New Personal Best! Brag About That New Pb!

[TabbRows]

Set a PB of 7:17.4 today at the Center City Slam in Philly.... I let up a little in the last 5 seconds and was wondering how that affects ones time. Since this is only my second race I was wondering if one needs to pull hard through the finish line just like one does when running track.

That's awesome TJ!!!!

In answer to your ?, most competitors just go all out with everything and anything they have left the last 200-300 meters. So yes, don't slack up the last 5 seconds.

Ever notice how when you're doing intervals and you handle down after the monitor hits 0:00 and don't pick up the handle again until the rest interval runs to 0:00 yet the memory shows rest meters of 87 or some such? That's the wheel spinning from you last strokes.

That said, depending upon your rating during the last 5 seconds versus your rating for the prior 7:12.4 minutes, by not slacking off you may have been able to drop your total time to 7:17.2 or 7:17.3. but if you dropped way down and only took a stroke or 2 the entire 5 seconds, you might have sacrificed a full second or more on your total time.

[Nosmo]

Set a PB of 7:17.4 today at the Center City Slam in Philly.... I let up a little in the last 5 seconds and was wondering how that affects ones time. Since this is only my second race I was wondering if one needs to pull hard through the finish line just like one does when running track.

[/quote]

You have more momentum on the erg so it is not nearly as bad as rowing track. Just putting in some numbers. You averaged 1:49.5. So if you were sprinting at the end and were doing say 1:46 which is 4.717 m/s so you would have covered 23.58 meters in 5 seconds. If you slowed down to say 1:56 (4.310 m/s), then it would have taken 5.47 seconds to go the same distance. So you would have lost about a half second or about (.05 seconds for each second your pace fell off.) How much did you slow down?

[tjf0]

Nosmos and TabbsRow, thanks for your replies. I actually went out pretty fast for me. Around 1:43.5 for first 500 which dropped to 1:45.6 for the second 500. I started to crash and worked hard to hold on through the next 500 with the goal of trying to sprint in the last 500. I was also a bit distracted from my screen since I could see the other boats in my heat up on the big screen and they were all pretty much ahead of me but I kept in touch for awhile. All the masters rowed together and so I was trying to stay with them. I know everyone says that one should try to balance ones pace but my dream goal is a 7:00 minute 2K which means I must average 1:45 for the entire 2K and I am dreaming that one day I will just hold the 1:45 pace. Next time I will pull through till the end of the piece.

PS: TabbsRow I am also finally a light weight came down from 170 about 3 weeks ago and my weight now seems to be stabilized at 163 with little real effort which is pretty cool.

[TabbRows]

Thanks Nosmo for putting in the math.

TJ, you can probably accomplish your goal but you need to train for it and probably step into it over a couple of races/year. Until you've done sub 1:44/45s consistently in interval training, you're not a likely to be able to maintain that consisitency in a race environment. You need to read some of the threads here on 2K pacing. And have a strategy for segements of the race. You essentially flew and died! You also did 2 back-to-back hard 2Ks. That's something an open erger might do but your body probably didn't have time to fully recover.

I also did a local erg race the week prior to Southern Sprints, but I used it as a training to practice specific segements of the race like the start and the 1000-1500 leg with specific goals. I didn't focus on final time and used the last 300 meters to rev up the rating but not necessarily the power or sprint. Just getting the feel fro the rating and the breathing at that point of the race. I then spent the week in taper with a full 2 days off the erg before Southern Sprints. So when I went into that race, I knew what my goals were what my rating and pacing should be at any point and had experience in starting and getting to target within the first 15 strokes.

Just be patient and work hard and you'll make your goal. A sub 7 for 60+ is really excellent.

[Bob S.]

I also did a local erg race the week prior to Southern Sprints, but I used it as a training to practice specific segements of the race like the start and the 1000-1500 leg with specific goals. I didn't focus on final time and used the last 300 meters to rev up the rating but not necessarily the power or sprint. Just getting the feel fro the rating and the breathing at that point of the race. I then spent the week in taper with a full 2 days off the erg before Southern Sprints. So when I went into that race, I knew what my goals were what my rating and pacing should be at any point and had experience in starting and getting to target within the first 15 strokes.

Just be patient and work hard and you'll make your goal. A sub 7 for 60+ is really excellent.

I must admit that I am envious of you guys that can train at the same altitude at which you compete. At 4000 ft, it doesn't matter how well I refine my pacing here at home, when I go to compete at a sea level venue, I haven't the foggiest idea what my pacing should be. My 2k times at sea level have generally been 20-30 seconds better that my best here. The only thing I can do is to try to go by what happened the year before, but, by now, I am losing ground very rapidly with age, so I have no idea where I stand.

Bob S.

[marving2]

New PB for HM - 1:25:22.2

Also, it happened to put me over the threshold of completing my first million meters, finishing in under 6 weeks.

[tjf0]

Thanks Nosmo for putting in the math.
.....
You also did 2 back-to-back hard 2Ks. That's something an open erger might do but your body probably didn't have time to fully recover.

I then spent the week in taper with a full 2 days off the erg before Southern Sprints. So when I went into that race, I knew what my goals were what my rating and pacing should be at any point and had experience in starting and getting to target within the first 15 strokes.

I also thank Nosmo for putting in the math..... TabbsRows thanks for sharing your preparation before the Southern Sprints... I am entering another 2k event next weekend hope I am not pushing my luck with 3 all out 2ks in 4 weeks. It is a masters 40+ event with no weight classification but it is handicapped by age (another new concept for me). The site states: "This event uses the USRA handicap algorithm. A course length or multiplier of 2.0 is used. " I am pretty sure the squared part of the algorithm must be wrong . So I will see how this one goes. My taper before the previous races were 5k easy two days before and 2k easy one day before.

[tjf0]

I must admit that I am envious of you guys that can train at the same altitude at which you compete. At 4000 ft, it doesn't matter how well I refine my pacing here at home, when I go to compete at a sea level venue, I haven't the foggiest idea what my pacing should be. My 2k times at sea level have generally been 20-30 seconds better that my best here. The only thing I can do is to try to go by what happened the year before, but, by now, I am losing ground very rapidly with age, so I have no idea where I stand.
Bob S.

Bob S. I always thought people training at altitude had a conditioning advantage especially when they hit sea level...but I can understand how training paces would be hard to know when you are 20 - 30 seconds faster at sea level.

[tjf0]

New PB for HM - 1:25:22.2

Also, it happened to put me over the threshold of completing my first million meters, finishing in under 6 weeks.

Great job on the HM PB and the 1 million meters in under 6 weeks since I usually do at most 7K a day with an occasional 10K pull at a steady pace and it took me ten months to hit my first million meters this November.

[marving2]

Well, today's goal was to shave some time off my FM PB, as I have only attempted it one other time, and that was a "can I finish" attempt.

Managed to take more than 19 minutes off my prior time and finish FM in 2:52:26.2.

At this point, starting to hit the realization that times will not keep improving as they have been, and that I need to settle in to a training program.

Tomorrow will probably be a shot at 2k. Good luck to all those going to Crash-B.

[Ben Rea]

woah 19 minutes off nice! even to complete a marathon is awesome.


2k for me at crash-b's



Old: 7:19.8 (1:49.9)

New: 7:19.1 (1:49.8)

[Bob S.]

2k for me at crash-b's

Old: 7:19.8 (1:49.9)

New: 7:19.1 (1:49.8)

Ben,

With your height, forget the LWT stuff. Go heavyweight, put on a few pounds of muscle and you will be sub-7 in no time.

Bob S.

[marving2]

2K PB

6:56.9, down from 7:26.8 on 1/24.

[tjf0]

2K PB

6:56.9, down from 7:26.8 on 1/24.

great job that is a very impressive reduction in your 2K time.

[bloomp]

New 1k PR (had to check my old times for the season)...

1:49.8 split, for a time of 3:39.6. Old PR was a 1:49.9 split...